2015-8-8 - Kevin and Tiny. Yep, Mom blew it. There's a story behind this picture.

Quick background:
Kevin had his first heart operation the day after he was born. The second operation was at about 4 years of age and Debbie gave him a small stuffed animal. Kevin named it "Tiny". Decades later Kevin was moving from one apartment to another and was thinning out his belongings. He thought perhaps it was time for Tiny to watch over Debbie and keep her safe and on a visit to Virginia Mom dutifully made the delivery along with instructions that if he ever needed it again, Deb would return Tiny to him.

Tiny was much loved and well worn and had only one ear when Debbie got him. When Mom found out about the impending operation she contacted Debbie and made arrangements, secret arrangements so Kevin would be surprised, to have Tiny returned. Debbie made him a new ear, and sent him to Mom with packing materials included so he could be done up like a present.

Long story short - Mom left the bag out on a shelf (she'd just moved, things were in disarray, and she was looking for a place to keep Tiny safe) when Kevin came over to give a helping hand with moving some boxes around. Kevin spotted the bag with Tiny peeking out and broke into happy laughter. He loved the ear. Mom felt bad at first about ruining the surprise, but Kevin's reaction was genuine and he is very much looking forward to Tiny's company after the operation.

I think I'll put more here before it all gets forgotten. Kevin's heart has enlarged.
When he was born he had a hole between the two
chambers of his heart and the pulmonary valve was too, too, small.
He was what, in those days, was called a "blue" baby because of lack of oxygen.
The day after he was born they did the surgery without life support.
They had three, four minutes tops, to do what they had to do. In those
three minutes they had to open him up, open the heart and close the hole,
open the aorta and stick the point of the scalpel into the valve, put
everything back in place, and then close him up again. I can't bear to
think about how much they did in such a short span of time. It's
mind-boggling to me. In any case, they said he'd need another operation
"soon".

At about 4 yrs old mom caught him turning blue and he had his second heart
operation at that time. This time they took a ring with a Dacron patch and
put it in place of the "scalpeled" valve. They said he'd need another
operation when he got to be a teenager, on account of the Dacron ring not
growing with him as he grew, and the demands of the body needing oxygenated
blood, and so on, and so on.

The heart is enlarged because it's working too hard to move blood.
Since it's really just a patch and not a valve, each time the heart pumps to
move oxygenated blood from the lungs to the rest of the body (since there is
no valve) there is backwash and the heart works overtime to make up the
difference.

In the past few years mom has seen Kevin's lips and nails turn blue. It was
pooh-poohed until he had the fainting spell and the heart doctor, here in
Delaware, who examined him passed it off as just that, a fainting spell.
Sorry, but I don't think fainting spells are prefaced and followed by years
of blue lips...

At any rate, a recent exam for work showed his heart enlarged. He will be
having the operation done at the Perelman Center in Philadelphia
across from CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia).
Prior to that his mouth must be infection free so he will soon be having a
deep cleaning. Oral health is important to heart health. The same bacteria
that will attack teeth and gums will go after weaknesses in the heart,
especially zeroing in on areas that are weak and injured, such as after a
heart operation.

His heart is working at about 40% capacity. He will be in the hospital
about a week and then be home, I think, in another 6
weeks or so. He is in good spirits and is really, really, looking forward
to the operation and feeling better.

9/22/15 update: Operation at Perelman Center, across from CHOP (Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania) in Philadelphia on 10/6/15.